Conor McGregor is only a few weeks away from the richest fight of his career and is now supposedly going to speak to Congress about extending the Ali Act to MMA Fighters. Congressman Markwayne Mullin has been told by Conor McGregor’s team that McGregor is going to go to Capitol Hill and advocate for passing a bill that would help give greater transparency to the financial information in MMA in order to better protect MMA fighters.

The Ali Act was passed in 2000 and is designed to help protect fighters through financial transparency, tighter regulations, and help maintain the integrity of the sport. One of the cornerstone parts of the Ali Act is that it protects fighters from “coercive contracts.” Other key parts are aimed to separate promoters from the managerial process of the sport. Boxing has rankings determined by independent commissions and promoters are not able to have a “direct or indirect financial interest in the management of their fighters.

Ringside Analysis:

UFC COO Lawrence Epstein gave commentary on the article written by Telegraph Sport. Epstein says that the UFC exceeds any requirements when it comes to the health and safety of fighters, which is certainly true. The UFC uses USADA for testing for performance enhancing drugs in athletes, which boxing as a whole does not, (Although some fighters require that their opponents undergo extensive testing with USADA) and the UFC has invested millions into a new performance training center near corporate headquarters in Las Vegas to help reduce the number of injuries that fighter sustain during training.

Dana White is the first person directly involved with the event to give a public statement on the number of PPV buys Mayweather-McGregor earned. At a studio with Snoop Dogg, Dana White says that the fight earned 6.5 million buys. The previous record was for the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight, which doubled the previous record with a reported 4.6 million buys.

The 6.5 million buys would set the North Americna record. Other countries sold the fight for much less than the $100 price tag we saw in the United States. Some countries had the fight available for free on television.

There were early signs for a huge PPV total when the prelims averaged nearly 2.5 million viewers and peaked above 3 million. It should be noted that the prelims had no well known boxers on the card so the people tuning in were there for the names on the top of the card.